Mumbai: Barring gusty winds, mild intermittent showers and several trees being uprooted in parts of the city, Mumbai emerged unscathed as cyclone Nisarga made landfall in Raigad district shortly after noon on Wednesday and weakened in intensity over the next few hours.
The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted moderate to heavy rainfall in Mumbai over the next 24 hours. Thane and Navi Mumbai remained largely unaffected, apart from incidents of trees being uprooted in areas. Several low-lying areas in Pune, however, were inundated due to heavy rains brought in by Nisarga since Tuesday night and there were power cuts in parts of the city. A flight was cancelled and a few flights were diverted at Pune airport.
The brunt of the cyclonic storm was initially borne by Murud and Srivardhan, and to a lesser extent Alibaug, in Raigad district. Parts of Ratnagiri district also faced harsh weather conditions. There were at least three cyclone-related deaths in the state. A 58-year-old man, Dashrath Babu Waghmare, was killed in Umate village near Revadanda in Raigad district when a power transformer collapsed on him due to strong winds when he was rushing home.
Two people died and three others were injured in two cyclone-related incidents in Pune district. Manjabai Anant Navale, 65, a resident of Vahagaon village in Khed tehsil, died as a wall of her house collapsed and tin sheets on the roof were blown away in the wind.
Three other members of her family also sustained injuries. Prakash Mokar, 52, a resident of Mokarwadi in Haveli tehsil, also died after the roof of his house was blown away and he was injured while trying to catch the tin sheets.
Nisarga made landfall in Raigad district, 75 km south east of Mumbai at 12.30 pm, just north of the historic Murud-Janjira town, travelling at a speed of 20 kmph with wind speeds ranging between 90-100 kmph, gusting to 110 kmph. After crossing Alibaug, it headed north-east towards Nashik, Dhule and Nandurbar districts, sparing the Mumbai Metropolitan Region of any major damage.
The landfall process started post noon, and went on for around three hours during which its intensity reduced from a 'severe cyclonic storm' to a ‘cyclonic storm’, and its wind speed too fell significantly.
During the landfall process, the maximum wind speed recorded by the IMD’s Colaba observatory was 49.95 kmph and that by the Santacruz observatory was 22.2kmph. "The landfall occurred around noon, and at that time, the eye of the cyclone was near Alibaug where the wind speed reported was 125 kmph,” said K S Hosalikar, deputy director general, IMD. Mahesh Palawat, vice-president, Skymet, said they were expecting wind speeds to touch 100-110 kmph, but the storm moved to the south of Alibaug, following which the maximum wind speed reduced to 50-55 kmph. “There was not much impact on Mumbai except strong winds which led to the collapse of trees in some parts. Moreover, the skies are expected to clear and a green alert forecast of only 'light to moderate rain' is in place,” Palawat said.
At least 59 trees were uprooted across the city on Wednesday but there was no report of any injury. Five special trains departing from Mumbai were rescheduled and three special trains were either diverted or regulated en route, the Central Railway (CR) said in a release.
The Mumbai Police suspended vehicular movement on the Bandra Worli Sea Link as a precaution. Flight operations at the Mumbai airport were also suspended between 2.30 pm and 7 pm as a precautionary measure in view of the cyclone, following which they resumed.
Earlier in the day, a cargo aircraft belonging to FedEx overshot the main runway on its arrival from Bengaluru, Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) said in a statement. Following a red alert issued for Mumbai by the IMD on Tuesday, the BMC and the state government went on overdrive to prevent loss of life. The BMC shifted 10,840 people from areas near the sea coast and landslide prone locations to 35 municipal schools. Heeding the BMC’s appeal, around 30,000 people also moved to these temporary accommodations on their own.
A senior BMC official said the impact in Mumbai was less than expected. “In the morning, it was crucial to see which direction it was heading. This is still a big lesson for Mumbai, because had the cyclone moved towards the north, it would have affected the city badly," he said. However, the coastal districts of Maharashtra bore the brunt of rough weather conditions, experiencing strong winds, heavy rainfall, and raging sea surge.
Tidal waves measuring up to 6-8 feet lashed parts of coastal areas in Ratnagiri and Raigad districts. Tin roofs erected on the terraces of residential apartments flew away in some places in Raigad and Palghar districts. Alibaug witnessed wind speeds of 120-130 kmph. Power utilities had shut down electricity supply in some parts of Ratnagiri district as a preventive measure. Mobile services were affected in parts of Raigad district. Anupam Srivastava, Commander, NDRF said a number of trees had fallen in Roha, Revdanda and Srivardhan areas. He said there have been tree fall incidents on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway too, but traffic flow was not affected.
